Free trade, sometimes

By Alex Singleton | 12 July 2005

The San Francisco Chronicle had an article at the weekend on the attitude of some politicians who, because of sloppy thinking, are pro-free trade only sometimes. The article is written in the light of possible Chinese purchase of Unocal, an oil company, which is upsetting some people:

After putting up a party-tent for global trade, some U.S. leaders are shocked - just shocked - to find that China has come shopping for an American oil company.

The worries come with skimpy rationales, weak history lessons and paler-still economics. The criticizing also misses the boat on free trade: Everyone gets to make a deal in the world market, not just the United States...

If the bid fails because Unocal's shareholders choose Chevron or the Bush administration forbids the deal, the world will question this nation's sincerity in its global trade commitment.

Or, as Fu Chengyu, chairman of CNOOC Ltd., the Chinese energy bidder, told the Washington Post, "I would suddenly find out that what Westerners taught us is not the way the West wants to go."